Online slots have become a bigger part of the entertainment industry in the last few years, as new features and themes have been added. The massive range of games now available might make you wonder whether they all work differently. In general, you’ll see that wins can be claimed in the three following ways.
A Combination of Winning Symbols
The earliest slot machines were simply based on a set of spinning reels, with the player hoping to see a set of matching symbols on a payline when the reels came to rest. A similar mechanism is still used in modern online slots, with a variety of themes and ways of winning making sure that the games feel different from one another.
The lobby of this online casino includes slots that use the Megaways feature – like Piggy Riches 2 Megaways – where the reel layout shifts on each spin to give an ever-changing number of ways of winnings. Rather than reels with fixed paylines, Pirots 3 uses a grid where each of the the birds collects gems that match its colour. Sweet Bonanza 1000 pays out when eight or more identical symbols appear anywhere on the grid.
Games with Jackpot Prizes
Matching symbols is probably still going to provide most of your wins. However, jackpot games have a special prize that can often be won in different ways. A progressive jackpot grows every time someone plays but doesn’t win this top prize. It’s usually triggered on a random basis, although some jackpot slots have a special round where you can try to claim the jackpot.
The Mega Fire Blaze range of slots by Playtech all include a twist where you enter a special set of reels to try and get enough bonus symbols to trigger one of the four jackpots. Daily and hourly jackpots differ from others, as they’re set up to trigger at certain times, meaning that a big win is guaranteed for someone before the allocated period ends.
Bonus Features and Rounds
The free spins round is one of the most typical slot features, giving players several bonus spins to try and win with. Some slots make the gameplay on this feature identical to the base game, but others add special symbols or alternative ways of making the free spins more valuable. Pirates Party give the option of three different free spin rounds, with multipliers, random wilds, or colossal wilds added to a setting in the golden age of piracy.
A collector round is another good example of useful bonus features. Money Train 2 by Relax Gaming uses a Wild West theme with a bonus round set during a train heist. A variety of symbols such as payers, collectors, and snipers all work differently as you use a set of spins to try and build up a big win.
These different ways of winning show us how the slots industry is evolving. Yet, the way that they also stick closely to many of the classic elements of the gameplay means that they remain simple to play and should seem familiar to anyone who has ever played slots before.
